Assertive Community Treatment Team Psychiatric Nurse
Ames, IA
Health system employer
- Eligibility
- RNBehavioral and Mental Health
Ask Mira
Posted Sep 12
Staffing and support
The posting does not state the assignment size, and nothing published names it for this unit.
Pay and benefits
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- 401K matching
- Employee recognition program
- Dental and health insurance
- Paid holidays
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- Short and long-term disability
- Pet insurance
We don’t have a pay range for this role yet.
We can help you find the number.
Do you qualify?
- License
- Associates degree or Bachelor’s degree in nursing with current RN License required.
- Experience
- Experience with persons diagnosed with mental illness and/or substance use disorders preferred.Preferred
What's around it?
Living costs about 11% below the US average
- Median rent
- $1,023/mo
- Household income
- $60,991/yr, all local households, not nurse pay
From Census ACS 2024.
About this role
- Area of Interest: Nursing
- FTE/Hours per pay period: 1.0
- Department: ACT
- Shift: M-F 8-4:30; Occasional evenings (until 7 PM); Occasional weekends
Read the full posting
- Job ID: 185337
Overview Make a Real Impact as a Psychiatric Nurse on Our ACT Team
If you want a nursing role that feels purposeful and hands-on, this is it. As a Psychiatric Nurse on our Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team, you’ll work closely with individuals with complex mental health needs and play a key role in helping them build stability and independence.
This is community-based work where relationships matter. You’ll meet clients in their homes and out in the community, offering consistent support through assessments, treatment planning, medication education, and ongoing psychiatric care. You’ll collaborate with a dedicated, multidisciplinary team that values your clinical judgment and relies on your expertise.
Why You’ll Love This Role
- Monday through Friday schedule, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with occasional evenings and weekends
- Meaningful, relationship-driven work where you see real progress over time
If you’re ready to step outside the traditional clinical setting and do work that truly matters, we’d love to have you on our team.
Why UnityPoint Health? At UnityPoint Health, you matter. We’re proud to be recognized as a Top 150 Place to Work in Healthcare by Becker's Healthcare several years in a row for our commitment to our team members.
Our competitive Total Rewards program offers benefits options that align with your needs and priorities, no matter what life stage you’re in. Here are just a few: Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program. Dental and health insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more.
We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members. Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family. With a collective goal to champion a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and respected, we honor the ways people are unique and embrace what brings us together.
And, we believe equipping you with support and development opportunities is a vital part of delivering an exceptional employment experience. Find a fulfilling career and make a difference with UnityPoint Health.
Responsibilities
Direct Client Care and Medical Services
- Under the direction of the team medication prescriber and in collaboration with the other registered nurses on the team, develop, revise, maintain, and supervise team psychopharmacologic and medical treatment and medication policies and procedures including transcribing, administering, evaluating, and recording psychotropic medications prescribed by the medication prescriber.
- Takes a lead role in providing medication administration and nursing care, evaluating and charting psychotropic medication effectiveness, complications, and side effects as prescribed by ACT psychiatrist or ARNP.
- Administer IM injections according to protocol, properly destroy medications according to protocol, and assure client attendance and follow-up with psychiatric prescriber.
- Arranges for required lab work according to protocol, tracking collections and results.
- Provides education to patients and family members on benefits and possible side effects of medications.
- Provides individual and group treatment, as part of a team, in the office and community settings. Treatment will be in a stage-based treatment model that is non-confrontational
- In collaboration with the team psychiatrist or ARNP coordinate, schedule, and administer medical assessments of client physical health, making appropriate referrals to community physicians for further assessment and treatment, and coordinating psychiatric treatment with medical treatment.
- Provides individual, couple, family and group services/skill teaching in a community setting to teach patients behavioral symptom management as a means of coping with internal and external stressors.
- Performs shift management in coordination with other ACT staff according to established policy and procedures.
- Provides on-call crisis interventions covering after business hours, overnights and weekends as scheduled.
- Initiates and maintains relationships, in coordination with other staff, with law enforcement, other human service agencies, and informal community resources, (e.g. landlords, employers, etc.), advocating on behalf of the client’s abilities, interests, and needs.
- Advocate for clients to help meet their needs, desires and best interests.
- Utilize critical thinking in making independent judgements and maintain responsibility and accountability for service provided.
- Knowledge of the effects of mental illness and the ability to relate respectfully to clients with a wide range of abilities and diagnoses.
- Ability to meet clients in their homes or in public places with ability to drive safely, and a willingness to transport clients in own vehicle.
- Possess teamwork skills including problem solving, cooperation, negotiating, etc.
- Continue professional development and involvement in professional activities that enhance service provision.
Service Coordination
- Functions as a practicing clinician on the team and provides service coordination (case management) for an assigned group of patients.
o Coordinates and monitors activities of daily living. o Assumes primary responsibility for developing, writing, implementing, evaluation and revising treatment goals and plans in conjunction with client. o Provides supportive therapy and symptom management. o Ensures immediate changes are made in treatment plans as a patients’ needs change. o Educates and supports patients’ families as needed. o Advocates for patients’ rights and preferences. o Help maintain patients’ entitlements.
- Organize and manage the system of getting medication to clients and integrate medication into client’s individual treatment plans.
- Manage pharmaceuticals and medical supplies.
Documentation/Assessment
- Complete all documentation within established guidelines.
- Ability to prioritize client need and to complete required written documentation.
- Demonstrate an understanding of all funder and accreditation standards.
- Track and document monthly outcome objectives.
- Participates in patient-centered comprehensive assessment.
o Identifies psychiatric history. o Mental status and diagnosis. o Physical and dental health. o Use of drugs or alcohol. o Education and employment. o Social development and functioning. o Activities of daily living. o Family structure and relationships.
Qualifications
Education
Associates degree or Bachelor’s degree in nursing with current RN License required.
Experience
Experience with persons diagnosed with mental illness and/or substance use disorders preferred.
Sourced from UnityPoint Health’s careers page.
How this role fits you
About the employer
On your path
Psychiatric is open from year one. Behavioral health spans inpatient, emergency, and community settings.
Worth asking
The posting doesn’t answer these. Good ones to ask a recruiter or in the interview.
- Can you walk me through base pay range and differentials?
- What should I expect for shifts, weekly hours, weekend, holiday, and rotation?
- What orientation, preceptor time, and ongoing unit support are included?
- How are patient load, floating, and staffing support handled day to day?